Bargaining for Time

Bargaining for Time
Jumanji Elements
Crystal Ball Message	A TRICK IN RHYME SAVES TIME.
Characters	Alan Parrish Judy Shepherd Peter Shepherd Nora Shepherd Van Pelt J.H. "Trader" Slick Manji Tribe
Wildlife	Monkeys
Peter's Penalty	Tortoise
Episode Credits
Directed by	Cathy Malkasian
Written by	John Behnke, Rob Humphrey & Jim Peterson
Air date	September 15, 1996
Previous	Price
Next	Masked Identity

Barganing for Time is the second episode of the Jumanji animated series. It marks the first appearance of Trader Slick, soon to be a recurring Jumanji inhabitant.

Plot

Peter and Judy headed upstairs to play to Jumanji in their quest to save Alan, but Judy slid and broke her watch and a vase that Nora was fond of and cried wolf to avoid punishment, leaving her feeling pleased that her exaggerations worked and Peter feeling uneasy that she resorted to lying to their guardian.

When the dice was rolled and the kids are given the clue "A trick in rhyme saves time", they emerged in the middle of a meeting between Alan and the Manjis. Alan tried to bargain with the Manji Tribe for a special spear that might help him get out of Jumanji, but was unsuccessful when Judy told the aboriginals more lies which angered the Manjis into chasing Alan, Peter and Judy. Once they evaded the tribe, they encountered the malicious and cunning Trader Slick who took them to his store to show off his wares. Alan was wary of Slick after hearing bad news and attempted to leave until Slick held a valuable artifact that could release Alan from Jumanji, a "Get Out of Jumanji Free" card. The downside was that the trio needed something valuable to trade, so Judy tried to trick Slick into taking her broken wrist watch for the card, guaranteeing it to "keep time perfectly still".

The Get-Out-Of-Jumanji-Card worked and Alan was allowed to go back to Brantford, but the trio quickly realized that time in the real world has frozen to a stop. Judy promised Slick that the watch keeps perfect time, so Jumanji held her to her word and as long as Slick had the watch, time stood still in the outside world. If that wasn't enough, the familiar Monkey trio emerged and started to wreck everything in their path and Peter was turned into a Tortoise as a consequent for Judy's lies, consigning them to return to Jumanji and try to trade the watch back.

Slick refused to return the watch unless they deliver him something valuable; namely a hunter's pith helmet, which Alan dreaded as the only character in Jumanji who wore one was none-other than Van Pelt. At night, when the hunter was asleep in bed, the trio obtain his helmet, but Judy inadvertently woke Van Pelt with her lying, urging them to flee from Van Pelt's Lodge with gunshots at their heels.

Despite their success, Slick reneges after he "received" a shipment of hats just like Van Pelt's, but rectifies the deal when offering the valuable sacred hunting spear of the Manji's as a substitute. Continuing where they left off, the trio steal the spear from the Manjis, but again Slick reneges the deal. Once Slick insisted that he: "Wants nothing, needs nothing", Alan and Peter become more frustrated at Slick's deviousness until Judy tricked Slick again into trading the watch for a mystery box. Slick opened it to find nothing in it— fulfilling his own insistence about how he "Wants nothing, needs nothing," and stormed off into his store in a huff, promising they will be doing business with him again.

Nevertheless, solving their riddle causes time to return to normal and returning Peter and Judy to Brantford, but Alan can't follow as his Get Out of Jumanji Free card was used already. Judy learned her lesson about lying but told Aunt Nora about how she truly looked a scream after the state she was in when the Monkeys messed with her, which wasn't a lie as her date really did scream at the sight of her.

Continuity

• Judy's characteristic lying from the 1995 film is represented in this episode prominently but she seemed to have learned her lesson as she does not overly resort to using it afterwards.
• In Truth or Consequently, the lying cliche was handed over to Peter, and by the episode closure it is Judy who reminds him about lying in Jumanji when referring to their first encounter with Slick.

Legacy

• The Episode was included on the 2018 HMV Jumanji Steelbook, which was deliberately released to coincide with the new Jumanji film. Along with the previous episode, the Steelbook included the 1995 Jumanji film, an animated edition of the original Jumanji storybook read by author Chris Van Allsburg and a sneak peek at Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle.